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Washington, October 26 – The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin today announced the launch of a major new project, “Across the Pond, In the Field,” to engage new audiences across the country and better understand how people outside Washington view the transatlantic relationship, trade, alliances, and other foreign policy issues. The three-year project will feature trips to 12 cities, where two American and two European national security leaders will meet with local leaders, public audiences, students, and journalists. On the inaugural trip to Pittsburgh, the European guests were former German Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Swedish Ambassador to the U.S. Karin Olofsdotter.

The “Across the Pond, In the Field” trip to Pittsburgh took place October 19–20. The project will visit Salt Lake City December 11–12. While in Pittsburgh, leaders of the project met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the County Executive, the Honorary Consul of Germany, and the CEO of the Pittsburgh Tech Council. They also took part in two public events co-hosted with the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh: one of which was held at the Peters Township Public Library and attended by over 100 people. They also visited the University of Pittsburgh to meet with undergraduate students in the European Studies Center. CNAS led off the trip with an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and recorded a podcast with Mark Houser, Director of News and Information at Robert Morris University.

CNAS will also release a video with trip highlights in the near future, as well as a podcast with Andy Dlinn, president of the Republican Leadership Council.

“The evidence is clear – there is an ever-widening disconnect between policymakers in Washington and the rest of the country, particularly concerning foreign policy and trade,” said Julianne Smith, a CNAS Senior Fellow who is directing the project. “Survey data and polling indicates that everyday Americans and Europeans are losing sight of the value of the transatlantic relationship. That said, our goal is not to lecture but to listen. We want to better understand how Americans today see the transatlantic relationship effecting their lives and understand how we can better shape the transatlantic relationship to serve people beyond Washington and Brussels.”

“Across the Pond, In the Field” is made possible by the Transatlantic Program of the German Federal Government through funds of the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Additional funds are provided by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

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Smith is available for interviews. To arrange one, please contact Neal Urwitz at nurwitz@cnas.org or call 202-457-9409.